Graphics jargon, help needed

B

BLACKWATCH

Mechanical Engineer
I've looked on "Tom's Hardware", but I am lost when it comes to this sort of techy stuff, can someone explain things to me in non-techy speak please. :confused:

As you can see from my sig, I am running a 6800LE 128Mb card, but I have chance of a PNY GeForce 7800GS 256Mb card at a very reasonable bung. ;)

In laymans terms, how much of a jump in performance will it give me ?
Also I have seen on here somewhere, about a problem with running TRS with a 7000 series card, but can't think what it was now, any info on that ?

Thanks in advance for any help offered. :)
 
Update:

Ok so from what I've read the 7800 GS would be a large performance boost for your computer - the 6800 LE is an underclocked card sold OEM to major PC manufacturers (such as Dell and HP) to be used with their machines. It is actually the slowest card in GeForce 6 series. Make sure your computer uses the same slot as the PNY card.
 
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Be Cafeful your motherboard limits your choice....

Blackwatch,

Your computer is almost identical to mine. I have AMD +3200 1.5Gb ram And 6800LE card. The limitation that I have is my motherboard can only use AGP graphics card. Most new graphics cards are PCI-e. I bought a 7950GT 512Mb AGP card which I believe is the fastest ever made for AGP board for an embarrassing amount on ebay. Had to because 7950GT 512MB card for AGP is no longer available.:(

To give you an idea the difference 6800LE renders at 22.1 Gb/sec the 7950GT renders at 44.2 Gb/sec. I haven't installed this new card yet because I use my computer for work and I don't want to take the computer down until I finish some outstanding projects.

My suggestion is to check with some technical person to determine what type of video card your motherboard will take.:wave:
 
In this article Tom's rates the 6800LE as being on tier 14 and the 7800GS as being on tier 10 (lower tier numbers being more powerful). They say you need a three tier difference for the normal user to see any performance improvement but FWIW I went from an ATI 9800 (tier 15) to an nVidia 7600GT (tier 10) and saw a colossal improvement in performance. The additional RAM on the 7800GS will also have some effect but sorry, I don't know how much.

Hope this helps a bit, John
 
This list from Toms Hardware may be of interest: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card,1923-7.html

A printed off copy of this went with me on a trip to town to buy a new graphics card and certainly helped me sort through the plethora of different cards available.

One thing worth noting: Bigger graphics RAM on the card isn't always the way to go. For example that card sat on the shelf boasting 1gig of ram may well be out performed by the one next to it with less memory but faster clock and transfer speeds.

As with most things you get what you pay for: The big names are usually better. The likes of BFG, XFX etc. spring to mind.

All in all it's a minefield out there!

Regards, Kev
 
sethmcs said:
My suggestion is to check with some technical person to determine what type of video card your motherboard will take.:wave:
Click to expand...

My machine was built by me & is AGP 8x, the 7800GS I'm looking at is also AGP and is compatible.

The problem is the jargon in the performance specs. i.e. Pipes, renders, mega flip flop bits and bobs between kings x & edinburgh type stuff. :D

Tempest
All in all it's a minefield out there!
Click to expand...

You ain't kidding mate, hence hoping to be enlightened by the guys (or gals) on here.
 
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I agree, all that is bewildering. Tom's Hardware Guides' "tiers" rating gives you a good overall idea of how cards compare when running 3D programs.

For explanations of the other terms try looking them up in Wikipedia but this stuff gets very complicated very quickly. The situation isn't helped by ATI and nVidia being somewhat inconsistent in their terminology and measuring methods.

John
 
omber said:
Update:

Ok so from what I've read the 7800 GS would be a large performance boost for your computer - the 6800 LE is an underclocked card sold OEM to major PC manufacturers (such as Dell and HP) to be used with their machines. It is actually the slowest card in GeForce 6 series. Make sure your computer uses the same slot as the PNY card.
Click to expand...

Update for you, I've had a word with my son (it was his 6800 until he passed it to me) and the jump won't be that big, apparently he
got the card cheap because it was underclocked but he has clocked the card & it is running not far short of the 6800 Ultra in speed, so
the only hang up with it will be the low memory.
Think I'll wait until I can afford to change the M/B for a pci-e, then look around for an 8800 card. :D
 
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To be honest I don't know - the overclocking might not help much but then it might.. I did see a test that compared the 7800 with 6800 Ultra and the Ultra still fell behind ..
 
Ok Omber, I'll see if it comes my way (I,ve got second dibs on it) I can always try it and sell the one I don't want.
 
Any 8800 is faster than the 6800 or 7800--they're the fastest cards on the market right now(short of a 9800 X2, but that's insanely expensive.)

While you're upgrading motherboard, swapping to Intel with a Core 2 Duo would also massively improve frame rate--the XP 3200+, while quite impressive, doesn't come anywhere near any Core 2.

Good luck and enjoy!
 
robbiehanson said:
Any 8800 is faster than the 6800 or 7800--they're the fastest cards on the market right now(short of a 9800 X2, but that's insanely expensive.)

While you're upgrading motherboard, swapping to Intel with a Core 2 Duo would also massively improve frame rate--the XP 3200+, while quite impressive, doesn't come anywhere near any Core 2.

Good luck and enjoy!
Click to expand...

The problem with the AMD Barton is that no one makes a compatible motherboard these days.
And anyway, why not use an AMD X2?
 
omber said:
Yes that is true but he is trying to save money :p
Click to expand...

Well that's very nearly true, but it's more of a case of not having any spare money to start with, the cheaper it is, the less I have to go without other things & for a shorter time. :D

I think collins idea of the AX2 is good, I know Intel are ahead (slightly) in the cpu game, but I have always found AMD to be more stable and easier to cool.
 
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